Heart of Stone
by NeonSolitude
Summary: "If I want to survive in this new reality I discovered, I have to know what I'm fighting against. If I know what I'm fighting against I just need to imitate them." Story of a student adapting to world of supernatural.
1. Chapter 1 - Forced to Adapt

**Disclaimer : I do not own Highschool DxD. It belongs to Ichiei Ishibumi**

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 **Heart of Stone Chapter 1 - Forced to Adapt**

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There are somethings in this universe that are unchanging. Things like what water made out off. It's made out of atom, and atom joins to make molecules. So two molecule of hydrogen and one molecule of oxygen. It's a fact here in Japan, it's a fact in America. It's a fact in Milky Way, it's a fact in Andromeda. There are many things like this. And these things make what reality is. Things you accept as a truth. For me supernatural stuff like ghosts that patrol the graveyard , djinns that grant wishes , vampires that crave blood of humans , demons that set fear to human heart , angels that protect humans and the man up high in the sky that likes to be worshipped. Those things for me are supernatural therefore they are not part of my reality. And these are not facts. Sure some people believe in them but that does not make them real.

But let's say when you are coming home from school. It's around 16:00 pm so it's still bright outside. You are on your usual route to your home only there are nobody around. Weird but you shrugged it off not giving much more thought. You continue to walk with your headphones listening to your favorite progressive rock song. Everything seems normal. The usual 'another day of the endless cycle' .

But lets say...hypothetically of course...it's not 'another day of the endless cylce'. Now that would be crazy! How could such a thing possibly occur? What would be the cause of it?It must be something huge...like… like achieving something. Well no that was not it.

You are walking and your eye catches something off,something that doesn't fit under the category of usual days. A man sitting in the in black detective jacket and a fedora. His facial features are not though his face is not visible you know he is staring at you.

This man is not right. This feeling was not usual for you. Being terrified,it was just not you. So your coping mechanism kicks in and tells you that you are exaggerating, he is just a creepy old man nothing more nothing less. But you know you are wrong. You know you are trying to make this man look real just because the feeling he gaves doesn't fit to your reality. This for you was unacceptable.

You increase your walking speed.

Now your logic decides to kick in. Thinking all the possibilities... Pervert,Serial killer,Organ trafficker. Even though these were all the possibilities there are couple of things didn't just fit in. If he one of those things he was making himself very obvious. Making himself visible to you meant that you have chance to run or fight if need to be. Attacking you from behind would be much more efficient. That way you would get no time to run and less to time to fight back. He made the first mistake it seems or he has a weapon that can be affective in distance. A gun... this was also a possibility but again attacking him from the behind with a gun would be more efficient. In a possible chasing senerio you probably could outrun him. You never thought your workout would pay in this fashion but still.

While you were thinking your chances, your logic find another possibility. A scary one.

He looked like he was waiting for you while no one was around. Now your body tensed with this realization. Your muscles getting felt your legs press harder to to move at any always like this hormone in your body. You thought it was your greatest ally. It was activated due to fear it was activated,adrenaline traveled through your body.

You took out your headphones and put it into your pocket.

At this stage bit of logic return to you. Now there was only one possibility you cared. You decided you didn't care who he was. You did not care why he might be after you. You only care about... When he was going to make the move.

You breathing increased as your heart beats filling up your body with energy. Primal instincts came over to you. And at this moment before everything went to chaos you felt that this was the most human you have ever been. Now you were closing at end of the road. You were about to pass him,your eyes still focused. You were just waiting for him, inside your head daring him to make the first move.

And that he did. Right about he was out of your vision. He stand up almost instantly.

A first move has been done but you have yet to do yours. Possibility of your demise have been raised alot.

Could it be at that moment fear overwhelmed you or curiosity got the better of you. Maybe you wanted to know how he terrified you. Maybe it was both. But now you were staring directly at the man.

He had normal human face a brown hair that reached to his neck.

You estimate that you had ten meters between you and him.

You also tho-

"Hey kiddo. Sorry this is the end for you."

You also thought 'Fuck'.

Then something happend as you were waiting for him to pull out gun instead he raised his hand. You could see something was there and steadly growing...somekind of energy.

With a bright flash something apperead in his hand. It almost looked like electricity.

At that moment your flight or fight respone got activated. There was no logic for you to think anymore only actions. And your instincts decided it was time to move.

* * *

 _"Things that are unkown to me always scared me. But now... I know what you are."_

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 **First chapter is done. It's my first time writing a story in here. I'm quite** **excited for it.**

 **English is not my first language so in my stories there will be some grammatical errors, I'm sorry for that** **. By writing stories I hope to improve my English.**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Menace

**Disclaimer : I do not own Highschool DxD. It belongs to Ichiei Ishibumi**

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 **Heart of Stone Chapter 2 - The Menace**

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You ran. But you knew that your legs would give in soon. An idea popped into your head. Calling someone, anyone, for help. You quickly took out your phone. You were almost not surprised when you see that there was no signal.

"What the fuck is going ?"

A dream? A nightmare? It need it to be. Otherwise how could you explain sky getting blacker by any second. But still you should have woken up because of the emotions. You wake up when you get too excited. That's how dreams works. Then what was this?

"Wha…"

A strange sound. It came from the above. It sounded almost like …

"Wings -!"

Your eyes widened. Two black crow like wings attached to the his back. Your pursuer flying just beside you. Effortlessly, looking at you with a grin. Almost like a cat toying with a mouse.

Your breath got distorted. At this moment your logic started to fail, the reality you knew didn't make sense anymore. Your brain desperately searched for answer. Somehow trying to find some sense in this crazy situation.

You snapped out of your thoughts when you saw the energy gathering at the mans hand. The complete version looked like a spear made out of electricity. Now the spear was directly pointed at you.

You only had couple of seconds to react before the spear went through you. You were about to do the first thing came to your mind. Dodge it. If you acted too early, before it was released, you would die. If you acted too late you would die. So you waited for that moment. Eyes focused in his arm movement. His arm moved…

Now!

You jumped forward and rolled. When you didn't feel any pain you know it was a success. Second later you heard loud crashing, something being hit with heavy force. You didn't dare to look at the damage caused by the spear, you only move forward.

This was going nowhere. There was no one in the streets and soon your legs would fail you as well. Your body was getting heavier with every step.

There was only option. When flight doesn't work you fight. You knew how to fight but only against humans.

Fighting against an unknown thing ,even though he looked like human, was hard. You had to know your enemy's weaknesses. There was one advantage for you. Making that spear took some time, so if you somehow avoid another attack then strike him...it might work. It is risky but what is the other option? Your body failing you and then dying. At least this way you would go down fighting. The plan had three phases. First wait for him to charge up his spear, second doge the spear , third punch the fucker with all your might.

You ran bit more and come to a street with some good possible suddenly stopped, this would surprise the man giving you bit more time. Seconds later he flew and landed in the street, facing you. A sweat run down your face. Gulping you noticed he didn't attack you straight away.

So you tried something.

"W-...Why are you after me?"

He smirked at this question. By every second your hate for this man increased.

"I have to give it you kid, you are good. I will answer your question, you are just a unlucky guy chosen by God. If you want to be angry with someone, be angry with him."

"G-God…?" You muttered slowly. Trying to understand what that sentence meant."I don't understand ! I didn't do anything to you ! Why are you doing this ?!" This time your question was ignored.

"Now die!" The moment you were waiting for. First phase of the plan started. He started charging another spear in his hand. You tried to stable your breathing. For you time almost slowdown as you watched his hand movements. This was it. It's do or die. One mistake and you are dead. Good thing that you had good eyes. You memorised the moment from when he was flying. How much time it took to create it and how much time it took to release it.

Now your fear and confusion was turning something different. In this last moments the idea of dying like this , dying without even understanding what is going on filled you with anger.

Surely you agreed that you nearly had no chance against this...monster. Even so right now you only wanted to punch him in his ugly face.

You gritted your teeth.

You were ready.

The spear was released.

So you were.

You dived and rolled. You raise up much more quickly than before. Phase 2 was completed.

Starting running straight towards him. Noticing you not being dead and running straight at him, the man started to charge up another spear.

You were close to him now. Only few meters left.

The spear was steadily charging. If you could hit him in time you could disturb the charging of his spear. At least that what you wanted to believe.

It was now or never.

Spear just completed charging.

You raised your hand, tightening it into fist.

Phase three , punch the fucker in the face.

…

With adrenaline your eyes blurred for a second you couldn't see anything. Only screaming and grunting.

As your vision slowly cleared, you saw the man holding his nose. Blood was running down his nose and it seemed like you broke it.

This felt like triumph but soon enough you noticed to spear in his hand. You thought he was about to attack you again so you ready your body to move once again...only to see…

The blood on the spear's tip.

" ! "

You felt your legs give in and you fell to your knees. A sudden, sharp pain entered to your body. You never felt something like this in your entire life. As the realization hit you, you eyes slowly drifted to a newly made gaping hole in your stomach. Blood started drip on the cold ground. You wanted to the scream, scream at the world how much it hurt. How unfair this was it. How you had so much to do , so much to see!

But alas, only a squeal came out off.

Now your vision once again started to blur. Your killer was saying something but you were not hearing anything. You only see him flying away.

Now there was nothing, you fell to your back.

"I-I ...don't… accept -nghaa.." While you were trying to speak blood came out of your mouth silencing you.

Slowly grief and pain start to overwhelm you.

You were dying. You know that. You know at this state it was inevitable and there was nothing you could do.

"...You are just a unlucky guy chosen by God. If you want to be angry with someone, be angry with him..."

"...fuck this…"

You had so much to do.

You didn't deserve this.

* * *

 **1 Hour Before :**

The school's bell finally ringed, ending school for today. And I must say school today was extra unenjoyable, other days at least I somehow bear with it. We had most exhausting lessons today. Math and physics. I like the whole idea of math and physics, how they want to explain this vast, mysterious universe we are living in. I'm quite interested in them because of that reason alone. But for some reason what they teach here is boring to me to the point where I don't care for the lessons anymore. I know learning the basics is needed of course and I'm fine with that but just repeating the same thing over and over again to me is just unneeded. When I find the lesson boring I can't enjoy it and when I can't enjoy the lessons it becomes hard for me to even listen it. Hence my bad marks in the said subjects.

I let out a sigh. I can think of my bad marks some time later. Now it was time to just leave the school. Listening to some music after a hard day at the school was what I need it. That was the greatest thing about going home by yourself. There was no one to bother me. Just before I was about leave the class someone called out to me.

"Kenji,my man!"

Daichi Yamazaki, one of my close friends. He was waaay motivated for some reason. Too motivated for me.

"What is it?"

"We are going to talk to some ladies today."

I left the classroom. He followed after me. I wished he didn't. Too much wishful thinking I guess.

"We are going the most populated area and we are going to get ourselves girlfriends." Daichi said with determination.

Where did that came from?

"So the perverted trio become the perverted quad. Got it."

"We don't have time for you and your sarcasm." He said with a serious tone."If I fail this task, I will bring shame to my brethren."

I mentally face palmed. Now I have to keep talk to him until we came to the bus stop.

"What's gotten into you? You are usually...well you are still obnoxious but not this much."

Walking through the swarm of students we left the school. I took a deep breath of fresh because I know I was going to need it. If I didn't know the guy I would think he got hurt by that comment. He is one of the greatest actors I have ever met.

"You made hole in my chest that I don't think I can refill…"

I rolled my eyes with annoyance.

"Yeah yeah whatever." There was three minutes to the bus stop...Damn it."Are you going to tell me why do you suddenly want to 'woo the damsels' ?"

"Some patience my dear friend, I was just coming to that." He said as his eyes filled with sudden anger."It become a matter of honor."

Matter of honor. Now he speaks like damn samurai. My head is filled with too much for this conversation. And there it was, my favorite thing the world. Headache. I slowly massaged my temples.

"How...how exactly is not having a girlfriend become a matter of honor ?"

He directly looked me in the eyes then stopped. He lowered his head.

"I will tell you...but I don't think your heart can handle it. Are you s-Wagh!"

Alright that was it, I hit him in the head. He let out sudden cry. He lifted his head to glare at me with tearful eyes. Again if I didn't knew him I think he was being serious.

"Come on now." I said glaring back at him."Not like the perverted trio got...girlfriend trio...yeah." Alright that didn't work.

"Firstly that was horrible…" Yeah I know it was. "Secondly what you said was kinda true."

I looked at him now, bit surprised. "What do you mean kinda?"

"What I mean by that is one of them made a girlfriend, Issei Hyoudou." He clenched his fist."Now do you understand this is a matter of honor. Even he, somehow, gets a girlfriend!"

"Well seems like you find a role model."

He let out gasp, looking at me with disbelief."You know the truth yet you still can joke about it…? Yes...Kenji you are truly the one with the heart of stone."

Finally we were at the bus stop and there was a bus waiting ready to depart. I looked at Daichi with a grin.

"Now it's time for you to choose. Do you take to bus and go to home, or go to talk ladies and wait for three hours for another bus. It is your choice."

He tought for a bit."Hmm...choice has been made. Talking to ladies will have to wait." He said with great regret.

I nodded approvingly and give him a pat in the shoulder."Good man."

With regret he entered the bus.

I let out a sigh when the bus left.

Finally some solitude, I could listen to -

Someone tapped me in the shoulder. I almost didn't want turn around but I did. There was woman in front of me with wearing strange clothes. A cosplayer? She had brown hair with bangs and brown eyes.

"Here, please take it!"

I noticed she was handing me something. A some sort of paper with strange markings on it. Advertisement maybe? I reached out and take it. I really didn't care much for stuff like this, but I didn't want to be rude so I put into my pocket.

"Uh...Thanks, I guess."

She smiled and walked away.

I could always throw it away when I got home. I shrugged and took out my headphones. Ahh, finally it was time for some relaxation. I passed across the road. Now there was three streets left before I reached home.

Music really soothes my mind, it takes me to new places, gives me inspiration.

So much so that I didn't notice how empty the streets ...usually there a lot of students going through here. Well whatever.

I continued to move forward.

But...there was something that didn't fit in.

The streets were empty, there were no one around.

There was pnly one person, clad in black jacket and fedora sitting on the bench.

This is...not right.

* * *

 _"Checkmate."_

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 **Second chapter is done. I must say I'm really having fun while writing this.**

 **In the next chapter things are going to get bit more complicated for Kenji.**


	3. Chapter 3 - Human Mind

**Disclaimer : I do not own Highschool DxD. It belongs to Ichiei Ishibumi**

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 **Heart of Stone Chapter 3 - Human Mind**

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"...Ugh ?"

I was in a bed, and a quite familiar room. I was in...home? Every inch of my body was hurting, I felt exhausted. Sun was glaring down on me through my window and it was too damn bright.

Then slowly as I lift myself up, a realisation hit me. Things were coming back to me, my memories. I remembered the empty streets, the man with wings and his spear...my head start to ache. I was planning to hit him and I did...then...-!

I quickly lifted my shirt up and touched my stomach. There was no gaping hole, no blood no scars or anything. I was completely fine expect for this horrible headache. I was still alive. Huh...I wanted to think it was only a simple dream, a nightmare and nothing more but there were couple of things needed to be answered first. I don't have any memory of coming home, talking to my parents, going to sleep.I don't even remember wearing these clothes,this white t-shirt and blue shorts. The last thing I remember was choking on my own blood and I can't think past than that. There was simply nothing more.

My eyes catch the sight of my uniform on my table. I stood up, as I did my muscles screamed in pain. My muscles felt so sore. Yeah...this whole situation was becoming more complicated by any second

I looked at the uniform, examining them. There was no blood or any kind of damage on them. Surprisingly they looked more cleaner than they used to do. They smelled better too...in fact my whole room smelled better. I try to recognize the scent...it almost smelled like a...a perfume? A sweet scent of strawberry.

"Did Daichi drugged me or something..."

Sudden sound of my alarm surprised me, I quickly shut it down. I stretched my arms.

"It's 07:00 am...already. Mom should come soon to call me for breakfast."

I let out a exhausted sigh and sit on my bed.

I wasn't getting anywhere with this. I had no clue of what exactly happened last day...was that whole deal happened last day? For all I know it could have been weeks. I picked up my phone from the table and looked at the date. Alright, it was the next day.

So...let's summarize what happened. I was walking to my home after school, there was no one in the streets only the man clad in black. Turns out he could crate spears of electricity in his hand. He also had black crow like wings and for some reason he was after me.

"He said something about I was unlucky because I was chosen by god…" with that sentence I felt my headache getting worse. Spectecular."Ugh..Let's just...let's say this all true, then what was he? The devil? If that were the case it would make sense why he wanted to kill me. Yeah... sooo much sense. I can't believe what am I considering."

It sounded so absurd...so unreal.

What if my mind was playing tricks on me? There was lack of evidence to support the existence of winged man that creates spears in his hand but then again there was also questions like why I don't remember anything else besides the winged man.

I just can't bring myself to believe it...but I just can't dispute idea either. It was too real, too real to be a dream.

I don't exactly know what was going but I had do something about it otherwise the winged man probably learn that I don't have hole in my stomach.

I stood up once again, walked to my window to look outside only to be blinded by the is it so bright? I quickly closed the curtains with annoyance. And my headache wasn't getting any better either. I silently cursed as I messaged my temples. This was bad. I didn't have any idea of what was he, why was he after me. The 'being chosen by the man upstairs' didn't cut out for me. What made him dangerous was, beside the spear of electricity , the lack of knowledge I had of him.

"I need information."

Finding information meant, finding his weakness. But this type of knowledge wasn't exactly common. You just couldn't find this kind of information in the internet nor any book for that matter.

Did I need holy water? Or a silver blade? Did I require garlic as well? If I accepted the existence of that winged creature, then it meant there ,possibly, could be much more type of monsters like that.

Sudden sound of knocking surprised me. Seems like I was lost in my thoughts.

"Kenji are you awake?" My mother's voice came from behind of the door.

"Yeah...I am."

"Alright, come to the kitchen and be quick! You don't want your food getting cold, do you?"

I heard her walking away so I didn't bother responding. I looked at my school uniform and almost let out a grunt.

"School is going to be...so much fun today."

At least...the lessons were pretty light today.

* * *

"I'm off." With that I closed the door and the left my home. Now that I had eaten something I felt better but still weary. I suppose this was to be expected. Dying usually comes with the whole not existing thing so I must say I am quite lucky.

I let out hiss when I almost got blinded by the sound. It was too bright...bright enough to hurt my eyes. I raised my hand to cover my eyes.

"Looks like the sun got brighter. That's great."

Slowly my eyes adapted to the brightness. But still it was bit more brighter than usual. Lack of sleep does that to you and dying does that to you. Eh, they are like the same thing anyways.

Things are really not going my way lately, are they?

Alright, whining about my rotten luck is not going to get me anywhere. I should do something to fix it.

I did have an idea. I could take a look at the streets,where this whole deal happened with the winged man. I didn't know what exactly I was looking for but this was the only thing I could do. Maybe I could find something. But finding my own blood on the street wasn't going to help that much.

I speed up. Now I was almost jogging.

Now the streets were filled with students. Chatting with their friends. Walking hand in hand with their girlfriends and boyfriends. Filled with laughter. Completely different from the last night. It was warm, cheerful and those also were the reasons why I liked walking here. Even though I wasn't any part of it, It was enough to wake me up. Now compare to this atmosphere to last nights. It was cold, dark, dread was lurking behind my shoulder. Sure the buildings were the same, cars were in the same place but that was it. There was no other similarities.

I recall the emotions I felt that day. In my entire life I have never felt so much emotions packed together. Feeling fear wasn't even that surprising when I thought about it. I didn't fear the man for his spear alone. There was another huge factor. I feared him because he was an unknown thing. I was always feared the things that I didn't understand. This was the reason why I always seek to learn new things, so that I had few things to fear.

I put my thoughts aside when I come to crime scene. Where the death of mine occurred. I was standing where he was. I looked at the ground, that's where I fell to my back.

"How interesting..." I murmured.

There was no blood stains. Area around was pretty clean as well, no evidence of fighting. I looked around to see If I was confusing the streets. No this was it. I remember noting that this street having some good coverage. I'm sure this was it Hmm, seems like somebody didn't want to leave evidence.

I grunted. Another unknown, another dead end.

Now there was one thing left, place that got hit by the spear. It was close. Once again I began to move forward.

After two or three minutes of walking I reached my destination. I take a quick look around the area to make sure I was in the right place.

I recalled my memory from that night. I've dodged the spear for the first time here. Then the area of impact must be just on my left. The impact was supposed to be on this apartment building's wall. I remember the sound of crashing, it was damn loud, it should have left a big mark on the wall and on the are as well.

But there was nothing there. It was completely fine. I moved closer and touched it. There was no irregularity, just a simple, undamaged wall.

What did I even expect?

How ? Did he used magic to make my blood disappear and maybe he repaired this wall himself!

I narrowed my eyes as frustration set in once again. Feeling of failure, a feeling that I was getting used to slowly.

"Alright."

I take a deep breath. There was nothing left, no blood, no crashed wall ,no evidence and no information. Then...it was time to move. Standing here and being annoyed isn't going to help me progress.

I started moving again ,this time my destination was school, and came to a new street, where it all started. This was the place where I made the first contact. The bench now was occupied by two students that were chatting, a couple probably. I shook my head and continued onward.

"Did you hear…"

"Yes,yes I did…"

"I can't believe she did that."

Huh? I heard two people talking, but there was no one close to me that I could hear. I looked at the couple again. They were close to each other and looked like they were whispering to each other. I had some good distance to them.

"Yeah, it sucks."

"I never thought she was that type of girl."

Now I was sure that it was them. How am I even able to hear them? I didn't have any problems with my ears but this was…just strange.

If this didn't happen just right after that night, I wouldn't thought much of it.

I could be exaggerating things. Since I'm on edge it could be affecting my senses.

But let's say that, after that night my hearing got bit better somehow. Then what if my hearing isn't the only thing got improved. Since what that winged man told me that I was special. Some sort of power? Something that it only started to affect me? It's is an far fetched idea just from my hearing improving but still a possibility.

If only I could have got more information from him.

I let out a sigh. So many possibilities...So little answers.

I still had some time before I reached to school maybe I should listen some music. My mind need something soothing too.I reached out to my pocket to take my headphones...only to notice that I didn't have them with. Quickly I checked to my other pocket and it wasn't there as well.

I forgot to take them with me.

"...Awesome."

What a wonderful day.

* * *

Finally I was in school grounds. There was only ten minutes left for school to start. I usually arrive at school bit earlier.

I did some experimenting while coming here and found my new ability to be... somewhat useful.

I could hear much better and I could hear people from far away, like they were just besides me. But there is a downside to it. I hear too much sometimes...I hear things that...uh...well things that I really didn't want to hear.

Anyways…

There were couple of things I notice when I was on my way to school. My hearing wasn't the only thing that got improved, seems like my every sense did. My eyesight improved, I could see the small details, my eye movement gotten faster as well. I could notice things much more quickly and after my state of grogginess, from lack of sleep, passed I felt that my body gotten lighter, flexible and quick.

Something happened to me after that night, I don't know what or how but it made me stronger. Maybe this way I got a fighting chance.

I entered to school while continuing to think. But chance wasn't enough for me. I just couldn't risk dying again.

Winged man's main weapon was his spear and that took bit of time to crate it, enough time to strike. He had wings and could fly quite fast. I needed to be faster than him, If I was -!

I stop dead. I felt something...some sort of energy? It was dark but steady and calm. What was this? I felt the flowing through the school. Anything that come close to this feeling was with the winged man. My muscles tensed up, was I being hunted? In here? I looked around there were alot of students in the area. He wouldn't attack when there was too many people but still I have to stay on guard. This feeling was close...closer than I'd like. Still this energy was...different. . It wasn't dreadful. It did not felt threatening. It almost felt familiar, like I was suppose to know it somehow.

Now my curiosity risen up. I had to investigate this. I take quick look around and focused on my senses. This energy was just coming from the stairs. So I moved to positions where I could take good look at the area.

There was three students there and one of them- Bingo. It was coming from one of them.

Then I noticed who those three people were. They were none other than our school's most loved Perverted Trio. And this particular energy was coming from Issei Hyoudou, now that I take good look at him I was sure of it. Interesting...I wonder if he has anu association with that man.

Issei was telling the others something. This energy was anything but normal, it was something that didn't exist before just like that winged one. It was incredible how these kind of things were able to hid in plain sight.

I shook my head, I was getting distracted again. I focused on him once again. Weird, I didn't feel anything from him before though. I wonder if something happened to him...

"Just what I was looking for."

Well seems like he become my number one lead. Hmm, didn't Daichi and I had conversation about Hyoudou? Ah yeah, matter of honor thing.

I leaned to the nearest pillar and put down my school bag beside me. I took out my phone, pretending to use it. Now I could listen to what they were talking. Thanks to my new hearing, I was able to hear them like I was just beside them. This little success caused a small smile play on my lips. Maybe now I could gather some useful data.

" I'm not joking here…" Issei spoke."Do you guys really not remember Yuuma-chan?"

Yuuma-chan... ah,must be his new girlfriend.

"How many times do I need to tell you?" The bald one, Matsuda spoke."We don't know anything."

"You never introduced us to someone like her…" Glassed one , Motohama spoke this time." You getting a girlfriend and pigs flying are pretty much the same thing anyways."

"Come on now!" Hyoudou spoke once again, taking his phone out." I even have her mail address on my phone." I raised my eye up from my phone and I saw him getting surprised."Wait…? Nothing ? Her number and her address is gone! They disappeared..."

Daichi did told me about him having a girlfriend...he wouldn't tell me if he wasn't sure. Even his friends don't remember her. Almost like she never existed. Any evidence of Yuuma-chan's existence was gone. Overnight she was gone.

What are the odd of this Yuuma-chan being a winged one...what are the odd of this Yuuma-chan killing our Hyoudou here. And what are the odds of him coming back to life.

Just like me.

What are the odds of all that happening?

That would answer the energy I'm feeling from him.

"Interesting…"

"What is interesting?" I felt a hand on my shoulder. Standing beside me was sleepy Daichi. He was rubbing his eyes. Seems like I was not only one who had a trouble sleeping.

"Oh nothing,I just read something." I spoke as I closed my phone and put it on my pocket. "Morning."

"Good morning." Daichi said while yawning. Then he raised an eyebrow."Why are you waiting here?"

I was just about to lie to him when I saw from the corner of my Hyoudou looking at something. His face almost look like he was amazed by something.

And soon enough I notice it as well. My eyes slowly widened,there was another energy just getting closer. This one was much more powerful than Hyoudou's. Dominating, . Then soon enough the source of the energy was revealed.

"Look! Rias-senpai is there."

"She is so beautiful."

Pale skin.

Blue-ish green eyes.

And the most alluring feature long crimson hair.

I know this woman.

"Ahh,third year Gremory Rias. One of the Great Onee-samas of our beloved school. " Daichi said as he let out a sigh." A truly work of art ,isn't she? Nothing like good wake up call eh, Kenji." He said with a grin as he jabbed me.

She walked down the stairs delicately.

"Yeah."

"Moments like this reminds me why I love this school."

I narrowed my eyes. At this moment Gremory Rias become a unknown thing for me.

And I really don't like unknown things.

She was part of this puzzle but I'm not sure about which part.

She walked down the stairs and now was in front of us. Indeed she was beautiful but there was much more to her than her beauty. She had power and...for some reason I think she was showing it off. To show who was in control.

Another dangerous individual. Tch, just when I thought I had some luck.

Our eyes met and I tried not to look at her. Meaning suddenly ground seemed quite interesting . After a couple of seconds she passed us and went to the hallway. Then my eyes followed after her, when she was out of sight I picked my school bag from the ground.

"I heard she comes from a Scandinavian country." Daichi spoke as he looked after her.

"Tell me again why isn't there a Perverted Quad?"

"Well, I am not sorry for admiring a beautiful work of art. You should do it as well, it is good for your health. And Pervert Quad, really? You can't put me in the same category as them. Women do actually enjoy my presence. I am just too handsome and charismatic, you know?"

Here he goes again. " Ohhh, so that's why Momo-san rejected you." Sarcasm was dripping on my voice.

"Oi, That's a low blow and you know it."

"You are the one who gave me the opening." I spoke as I shrugged my shoulders.

He let out a little laugh."Whatever, you and your cynical remarks can't get to me today."

"Those are bold words, Daichi. You sure about that?"

"Yes I'm quite sure." He looked at me with a grin."Because this weekend...Are you ready for it? I am going to a date with Hikari-chan."

"Hikari...as in Hikari Mizukawa from class A? One with long black hair?"

"Yep. The black haired beauty of kuoh is now officially dating me. You can now congratulate me."

"Good for you, I guess. But when did this even started?" I asked confused. He didn't told me about her before.

"We've been talking for two weeks now." He said proudly." At first I didn't really think much of our talks but last night she texted me and asked me if I was free this weekend."

"Hope it goes well."

"Thanks!"

Well at least someone is having a good day.

Hmm...I wonder if he forget our talk about Hyoudou having a girlfriend. He must have, still should test this.

"Daichi, I have question for you." I spoke as I looked at perverted trio. They were going to the class.

"What's up?"

"What would you do if someone from the Perverted Trio made a girlfriend?"

"One of them made girlfriend?!" He almost jumped in his place.

I see.

"No, ...a hypothetical question."

"Good grief." He said as he wiped sweat from his forehead."Don't scare me like that. Why are you asking that all of a sudden anyways?"

"It's just came up to my mind."

"Well…" He thought for a second."If such thing were to happen I would ready myself for the apocalypse."

I thought so.

"Hmm...yeah me too." I spoke with a dry voice."Let's go to the class."

This Yuuma-chan was a winged one. This settled it. Last night he killed Hyoudou. Probably because of being chosen by god. She even go to lengths of being his girlfriend. Why? I suppose in the end it doesn't matter why. Every evidence of her ever existing and becoming Hyoudou's girlfriend disappeared from the face of earth. Seems like the winged ones can make anyone forgot their memories about them. But just like me Hyoudou remembers her and ,probably, remembers dying as well.

I wonder If I actually died that night, would everyone forget about me and act like I never existed? Probably.

Should I talk to Hyoudou about this. He seems confused and in the same state as me. So that makes him my ally. Or should I take a bit more careful approach to this. For all I know that would cause us to be find more easily. That doesn't make much sense but lately not many thing makes much sense anyway.

And what I mean by careful is me following him where goes. Basically stalking. Maybe I could find something off or notice something important. I don't know what that important was but uh...I think I would know it when I saw it.

Not my greatest plan. Following him might prove worthless and waste of my time. But since we both are alive they surely would notice that. They also attack us when we are alone. So let's say they attack him when I was following him. This way I could take the winged one by surprise.

Well If they don't notice me first which considering them being magical things they probably will.

Sigh escaped my mouth.

I have think bit more about this. And what is the best way to think? When listening to lesson of course.

I was getting somewhere.

At least I hoped I was getting somewhere.

* * *

 _"You don't know me."_

* * *

 **Chapter 3 is done. I was planing to make this chapter bit more longer but I thought this was a good place to end it.**

 **Next chapter should come out in a week or so.**


	4. Chapter 4 - Echoes of Future

**Disclaimer : I do not own Highschool DxD. It belongs to Ichiei Ishibumi**

* * *

 **Heart of stone Chapter 4 - Echoes of Future**

* * *

So I had a plan to follow Hyoudou today. It wasn't a good plan because of the risks of it, I wanted change it and come out with a better one. More efficient one. I thought I could create that better plan today, while I was in school. I had some time think about it.

Which I was quite wrong. And things were steadily becoming worse by any minute.

I wasn't able to come up with another plan so I had to go with 'following him' method. This was my first issue. Second was caused by the man that I wanted to choke right now, Daichi. He wanted me to meet his new girlfriend. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that they wanted to hook me up with Hikari's friend and go for a drink.

A double date.

Now since the school just ended I had to keep track of Hyoudou in a swarm of students and 'convince' them that I couldn't come.

I resisted the urge message my temples and be sarcastic as possible.

I wonder if Daichi knows what will happen to him.

"You should come with us." Hikari said to me. It was my first time meeting her. And from our little talk I found her to be a kind and caring person. Though I really don't know how a person like her got interested in Daichi. For me love was a complete mystery. I can understand why people fall in love, but it just wasn't for me. Still, it's good that he found a girl like her. Maybe she could tame him down a bit.

"I really would like to but uh...I have things to do."

"Like what, Kenji?"

"You know, the usual important things, Daichi." A normal person wouldn't notice meaning behind that sentence because of how I calmly said it. Now my friend Daichi was anything but normal. Also he was my friend for a two years now...that says a bit about me as well but I digress, he easily gets my comments with hidden meanings.

Hidden meaning in that sentence that I was just seconds away from choking him.

"Come on, Kenji-san. Four of us together, it should be fun."

"I'm sorry I just can't, Hikari-san. You have to excuse me today." I replied as I kept my focus on the trio walking in front of us.

"We shouldn't force him. I mean...he said that he had important things to do. " This time our groups fourth member, Mizuno Aoi spoke. She has been silent for a while now. She was from class A and Hikari's best friend. I did know, heard about her before. She was in the volleyball club so that made her somewhat famous in our school. But it was also my first time meeting her and talking to her.

"Yeah...I guess so." Hikari let out a sigh."But we definitely should go somewhere when you have the time."

"Oh, most definitely." I tried my best to conceal the sarcasm on that sentence. But of course Daichi noticed it and send a glare my way. I shrugged my shoulders at that.

A couple of minutes ago I was tracing Hyoudou. I saw him with his other two friends. Before,back in the stairs, I think I heard Matsuda inviting the other two to his home to watch some...movies. I was just about to start to plan when Hikari and Mizuno came to us.

Good thing that I was able to convince them. I solved one of my problems now I had to keep the trio on my sight until we all went our separate ways.

Suddenly a devilish grin appeared on Daichi's face.

"How about this Friday? You are free then right?" He said as he looked at me smugly.

He wasn't going to let this go easily, was he? I could come up with another excuse but that would just cause him to be more persistence. To the point where he could ruin my plan. But accepting it meant wasting my whole friday after school.

"Wouldn't that be great. Just after school, a bit of relaxation." Hikari said, agreeing with Daichi.

I knew Daichi for a while now, he can be quite persistence when he wanted to be. And right now this conversation was getting the way of my investigation. The perverted trio was starting to get lost in the crowd. I had to act quick and get moving, needed to get rid of them quickly.

"Alright."

I knew I was going to regret this.

"Oh come- Wait what?" He looked at me with a surprised face."Did you just said yes?"Then he looked at Hikari."Did he actually said yes? I am not dreaming, am I?Hikari-chan pinch me."

"There was no 'yes' involved in my sentence. I only said ' Alright '."

"The famous 'Kenji Sarcasm'...Yes! It is too real to be a dream !"

"Why are you even this surprised? You are the one who suggested the idea anyways."

"I did... but I didn't not think you would accept it this easily. Since, you know you are bit grumpy when it comes to things like this. Well I guess being shy around women does that to you. But it's good to see that you are making some progress." He said as let out a sly chuckle and gave me pat on the pack.

He was waiting for a reply but I did not replied to him. I could always think of something later to make him regret his words. Now I had to keep tracing the trio. While I was tracing the perverted trio, our own trio started to chat. About some small stuff I couldn't care less. I decided to keep silent and focus on Hyoudou's energy. His energy was sticking out like sore thumb in the crowd. This way, even if I lose the sight of him I could easily locate him.

Hmm...this made me bit curious. This happened with the winged one as well. When I saw the winged one for the first time, I felt something as well. I suppose that was his energy, though his and Hyoudou's were completely different, almost like they were opposite of each other. Because of that they stand out from the rest of...humans? Like a white painting with two dots. One of them being red and other being black. I don't know if there are more dots on that picture but this possibly meant I only could feel the supernatural. Maybe humans didn't had that energy? Or maybe they did have it and theirs were more calmer than the supernatural's ones? Could be possible. Might be the reason why Hyoudou sticked out from the rest of the crowd. There was of a lot of human energy around and there was him. That did make a bit sense. If the supernatural had this energy then there was also no reason for humans not to have it. Theirs might be more orderly, more simple, more smooth and more ordinary.

All this thinking raised another question. What was this energy? I did not believe human body having aura or spiritual energy or things like that. But not considering them after all that happened would be downright stupid.

This energy could be their source of power. With the winged one it was flying and creating spears. This energy also could be their aura...their life-source. Something living would have an aura then. That would also support the idea of humans having one.

"...you think of it Kenji-san ?" A voice addressing to me interrupted my thoughts. I found Mizuno looking at me with a small smile and raised eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"Just as I thought, you are not listening to us. That's not a good thing to do, you know." Mizuno spoke as her smile turned into a smirk.

"Sorry… I was just thinking about something. What did you ask?"

"Nothing important. I just noticed you weren't paying attention so I decided to ask you a question and catch you off guard."

Daichi chuckled at that and said couple of witty remarks about me.

I was getting too lost in my thoughts again. I could think all of this some time later. Preferably in a more calm place and with no company.

We came to point where it was time to say our goodbyes each other. Time that I was quite excited for.

We said our goodbyes and everyone went to their merry way. Daichi was going to home by bus and two girls were going together to their home probably.

Small sigh escaped my mouth. "Finally, I am alone."

I can completely focus on the trio now. I had some distance to them. Enough to not get noticed. It was time follow them. I hope this plan achieves something.

I quickly took out my phone from my pocket.

"Hello?"

"Hey, mom. I'm going to hang out with couple of friends. I might come home late today."

"Oh? Friends you say..."I know where this is going. "What are the chances of those 'couple of friends' being a girl?"

I shouldn't have called her.

* * *

The sun started to set couple of minutes ago. Sky was getting darker. Even though sky was getting darker I could see around pretty decently. Seems like it was another improvement of my senses. Now I could see in the dark. I let out a small smirk. This was going to be useful.

"Hmph…"

After that night every part of my body gotten improved.

I wonder if there was more changes on my body.

I shake my head. I really needed to stop getting lost in my thoughts. Anyways, I decided to return to think about the current situation.

Turns out Matsuda's home was close to mine. There was only couple of streets between them. I was able to find a decent vantage point to watch the house. It wasn't the most comfortable place but it was a good hiding place.

I was hiding in bushes.

It had been two hours since they came to house. I was a patient person. Waiting for that right time to act was something I considered necessary. But I doubt that it was going to be successful this time. Because my plan was weak, it depended a lot on chance, something I really didn't like to depend on. Still… I already started this plan so I had finish it. I wanted see where it lead me. I might not get some answer with this one but at least I would like to see how it will finish. Also I didn't have any other plan to act upon.

Five minutes passed and I saw Hyoudou coming out of the house. He was alone. Hmm, bit surprising...I expected him to come out with Motohoma. Good, this made things bit easier. I waited for him to move but he did not. Instead he was doing something strange. He looked bewildered and was looking around. He rubbed his eyes and continued to look around.

I see. Same thing was happening to him. He was seeing better in the dark That would explain why he looked around with a surprised facial expression. Whatever has been affecting me was affecting him as well. It wasn't that surprising when I thought about it. Same things happened to us. We both were killed by winged ones. We probably both had a gaping hole in our stomach. And we both were alive the next day. We were in the same boat and if we worked together we might just survive our next encounter against them. He could be a possible ally in the near future. But I still wanted to be sure. I'll follow him today and If nothing happens, I'll approach to him tomorrow in the school.

He started moving. I waited a bit, for him to go bit further. When he did I left the bushes and I followed him after I shake off the leaves on me.

* * *

It was completely dark outside but thanks to my new eyesight I could see everything. Hyoudou stopped when he come to a park with a fountain on the middle of it. I decided to examine the area. There was couple of street lights, a lot of green and trees. I swiftly moved behind a tree that was closest to him.

"This place…" Hyoudou said as he walked towards to fountain." This was the place I came when we were on a date with Yuuma-chan." He lowered his head and put his hands on the fountain.

I know why he came to this place rather than going home. It seemed like Hyoudou was realizing that something was very wrong. I suppose he decided to came where it all started. Where the strangeness began. Where he got killed by his ex winged girlfriend.

"Yuuma-chan...There is now way of all those being just a dream."

So he only thought it was just a dream. I can't really blame him for that. I was questioning my sanity when I accepted what happened to me as being real.

There was so much that didn't make sense. There was no scientific evidence of winged beings that can fly and create a spear from nothing and killing innocent people for no reason.

But the evidence I gathered, things that I listen to suggested different things. There was no scientific explanation for my enhanced senses. I heard, I saw, I felt new things and I knew they were real. Just like them. They existed. They existed without no explanation.

That bothered me. A lot.

I had to know the truth.

But then something happened. Something that I considered a possibility. Something that I experienced before. My eyes slowly widened as I recognized change in the atmosphere. Cold and dreadful. It leaked of terror. Yes, this was something all familiar to me. This dark, threatening energy that I knew very well. It was close.

"W-What is that?" Hyoudou noticed it and turned around to seek what cause this disorder. There was not working street light and besides it there was a man. A man that was slowly approaching towards him. A man that was making my blood boil. I unconsciously gritted my teeth. I got closer to the tree and was almost hugging it.

" Look at what we have here !"

Hyoudou wasn't moving at all. He was stuck in place and his body was shaking in fear.

There was two options.

I could interfere and help him. But that meant risking my life.

Or I could just observe. But that meant Hyoudou's death.

I didn't like either of them. Both options were bad.

Then suddenly he moved. He jumped two or three meters backwards. After that he looked surprised with himself.

"So you want to run away."

I kept observing it.

"I don't have any clue of what's going here!" With that Hyoudou started running. Then suddenly I heard a noise. Wings. From the corner of my eye I saw him flying swiftly towards Hyoudou. He was not able to notice me.

"Oh shit."

At this state Hyoudou wasn't going to make it. The winged one will catch up with him soon enough. This was the time to decide.

Help him.

Or not.

I burst out off my place and ran through the trees. Running through the trees will slow me down but this way I will have the advantage of being anonymous. I was moving quickly and with ease through the trees. I tried to focus on their energy. They were still and near to each other. This was bad. I was getting close to them, while running I was trying to come up with a plan. Nothing came to my mind.

Suddenly I felt Hyoudou's energy was coming towards me. That meant he was running back. Through the trees I saw him running back to the direction of the fountain. I was just about call out to him when I saw the spear heading towards him. He didn't have enough of time. He didn't have enough time to move away.

The spear went through his stomach. He let out a pain of cry.

There was nothing I could do. I quickly hid behind the tree once again. I saw Hyoudou falling to his knees. Spear's tip was now covered in his own blood.

"It h-hurts...so much!"

"You must be in immense pain. Light is like poison to your kind."

His spear was made out of light? How…?

"I thought one spear would be enough to kill you but you are tougher than you look." He was going to finish him. Maybe there still was a way I could help. He created another spear pointing directly at Hyoudou."Don't worry, I will finish you off now."

I grabbed a stone from the ground. If I throw this at his head with enough speed that would give me few seconds to attack him. I move into a position where there was nothing infront of me. I can have a clear shot from here.

I quickly raised my hand..

"Take this, you winged son of a bitch !"

I put all of my strength to my arm and I released it. It was fast and it was going directly at him.

Bullseye! It hit him directly in his face. I was just about to move from my position to attack him…

When a sudden crimson flash caught my eye.

Some sort of crimson energy hit his spear and cause it to disappear.

"Did you do that…?" He asked as he looked directly at me. Then out of nowhere a circle appeared in front of Hyoudou. This circle radiated a eye blinding crimson light. "No, not you."

When I take closer look circle it looked quite familiar. It almost looked like... the same circle that was on the paper that I got from a woman yesterday. I wonder if they had some kind of connection

There was person on the middle of the circle.

A woman.

Blue-ish green eyes.

Crimson hair.

I _knew_ this woman.

Gremory Rias.

"You can't touch that boy anymore." She spoke in a demanding voice

"R-Rias S-Senpai…" Hyoudou said just before his body gave in and fell to the ground. He was not dead though I still could feel the energy coming from him. It was weak but it was still there.

"You...Who do you think you are?" He spoke as he charged another spear in his hand. I looked at Gremory once again. She wasn't moving, wasn't doing anything. She was only standing there, directly staring at the man.

At this moment I just decided to observe what was going on.

The winged one launched his spear at her. But out of nowhere someone just jumped in the way of it and easily deflected it midways in the air, causing the spear to fly backwards. She landed on the ground. This new comer was standing besides Gremory. She was short young girl with a snow white had amber, almost gold, coloured eyes. She was wearing our schools uniform. Koneko Toujou.'Kuoh's cute little school mascot, at least that's what Daichi told me.

Fuck you, Daichi. Cursing him was becoming a bit of a habit.

Anyways.

I wonder, how did she deflected that spear? I did not expect anyone to be able to deflect that spear. But once again I was proven wrong.

Winged man grabbed the spear that was deflected by Koneko. He glared at the two and charged forward towards them.

"Damn you!"

He was midway towards to them when a bright flash lighted whole park, then pure destructive energy hit right in front of him. I had couple of second to see the destructive power. It was electricity, I had no doubt about it. It was loud and had so much force in it. Like a lightning strike. Ground was destroyed and force of the impact tossed the man backwards. After that another woman came to my sight. Long black hair that was tied into a ponytail and sharp violet eyes. She was also wearing the Kuoh's uniform. I easily recognized her. Akeno Himejima. She was the second most popular girl in Kuoh, first being Rias Gremory. I noticed her hand, electricity was dancing in each finger.

"Crimson hair…now I understand." Winged one spoke as he struggled to stand up." You are from the Gremory family…!"

"I am Rias Gremory." She declared proudly. Then with a mocking look she looked at the struggling man."How are you, Fallen Angel-san?"

Wait...Fallen Angel? Are we talking about the sinful angels that got cast out from heaven. Oh...great. Seems like religion played a huge role in this complicated situation. Well It all started because of it. This Fallen Angel was after me because I was chosen by this god. I wonder if they were only doing this out of hate against the man up on the sky. After all they were cast out from heaven by him. However I don't think they would risk angering the man, after all he was this almighty powerful being and creator of life and that made him just a bit dangerous. Well at least that's what religions says about the creator of the universe.

Fallen Angel picked up his hat from the ground and wipe the dust off of it.

"I did not know Gremory family was in this city." He spoke as he put his hat on. So now he decided to talk, and all that took to get him talking was a little lightning strike. He looked at the Hyoudou and then to me. I narrowed my eyes. "Are these two part of your family?"

Confusion set in once again. We were part of her family?

"Wait what?" I looked at her, expecting an answer. But my question was ignored completely.

"Yes they are and if you ever try to hurt them again, you will face my wrath."

"Understood. For now I am retreating." Then he smirked." But know this Rias Gremory, if your servants ever wander around this place alone I might accidentally kill them while strolling the area."

Wha...? We were her servants as well? What is this, a bad porn plot?

"Thank you for the warning. Same goes for me as well. If you ever try to do something like this again, I will make sure to kill you." She spoke as she narrowed her eyes. Her voice was extremely threatening.

"If that day ever comes, I will be sure to give you an appropriate response. A response that is sharp and clear."

I had enough of their pointless conversation about who was stronger.

"Hey, Fallen Angel, why are you after me?"

He looked at me then let out a smirk."I already told you." After that he flew up to the sky.

"My name Dohnaseek and I hope that we never meet again."

With that he was disappeared out of sight.

Everything once again felt normal. Of course nothing was normal. Hyoudou was bleeding to death just in front of me. There was also a lot things added to my questions list. Things like, what exactly was this Gremory. I was also somehow her 'servant'. We both were, Hyoudou and I.

I looked at the Hyoudou. There was a puddle of blood around him. His face was pale. A normal person would think that he was dead. I was not a normal person. Hyoudou was not dead, but he will be soon enough.

Gremory walked up and stood next to me. She was also looking at Hyoudou.

"Hello Asono Kenji-san. How are you doing in this fine evening?"

Absurdity of this scene was beyond me.

"I'm alright, I guess."

"Ara,ara."

* * *

 _"She did not deserve this."_

* * *

 **Chapter 4 is done. A quick note that Kenji will not have a harem. I don't think he will be in a** **relationship** **with anyone either. That might change in the future.** **But he** **definitely** **will not have a harem. Issei will have a harem though.**

 **Also I would like to know what you guys think about the progression of the story.**

 **Next chapter should come out in a week...I think.**


	5. Chapter 5 - Knight Errant

**Heart of Stone Chapter 5 - Knight Errant**

* * *

"And here I thought things couldn't get more complicated."

Kenji let out a tired sigh as he finished wearing his school uniform. He took a quick glance at his clock, it showed that it was 07:10 am. He raised his eyes from clock to the window. He was almost surprised when he didn't got blinded by the sun. The weather was in a perfect condition. Sun was shining brightly down on the city without getting interrupted by clouds, It was comfortable with some occasional cool winds, he really couldn't complain about the weather. It was like this for awhile and it definitely wasn't bothering him.

However, there was somethings that he could complain about. Things like a certain red headed woman and how she - downright refused - didn't have time to give him any useful information. Granted, he could understand the reasoning behind it. Last night Issei Hyoudou was drowning in his own blood, and Rias Gremory wanted to save him quickly. With her magic, he presumed. He also didn't want Issei to die, again. He was the only one he could trust, consider an ally. After all same things happened to both of them. He understood the urgency of the matter. The problem for him was the way she avoided his question. Rias did answer, just not completely. He learned that it was Rias who returned him and Issei back to life. He also learned that Fallen Angels main weapons,spears, were in fact made out of light. She suggested him to not get hit with one which Kenji responded with a dry sarcastic laugh.

Her answers continued being quick,short, incomplete, she had a sly grin on her face. Kenji decided that he despised that grin. She knew his weakness, she knew that he was desperate for answers. She was teasing him with bits of information, just enough to keep him interested. If he wanted information he had to go to her. And he knew that information wasn't going to be free. She was going to use him,use both of them somehow. After all they were her 'servants.'

'She wants to put me on a short leash.'

He was right about Rias Gremory being dangerous in terms of power. But she was also equally dangerous in terms of genius. She knew how to use the weaknesses of others for her own benefits.

" _I'm going to send someone to fetch both of you tomorrow. Be sure to come to school."_

He was going to do what exactly she wanted, expected. After all there was no other option. Kenji knew his curiosity was going to be end of him.

He let out annoyed grunt and left his room. He went to the kitchen and decided to eat something quickly. Kenji wanted to reach to school as soon as possible.

"Slow down,son! I know your mother makes some good food but still it's not healthy to eat like that." His father, spoke as he took a sip from his coffee. "It's not like someone's chasing after you. "

After finishing his food, Kenji thanked his mother and then he picked up his school bag from the living room. He left his home with a last goodbye to his parents. Then he put his headphones on and carried on.

He almost let another grunt out when he remembered the lesson schedule. Kenji decided that today wasn't going to be good a good day for him. Not much different from several last days,he realized. As usual there was many things to wear him out, annoy him, but he was used to it all. The boring school, useless and pointless chatter of students, lessons that barely mattered to him and the empty, meaningless, monotone, continuous cycle that was life, he was used to all of it. He always acted like that there was nothing bothering him, that he was doing fine with himself, and to some point it was the truth. He did not care much to fit in, he didn't care for the approval of others and he definitely didn't have the small problems of an ordinary student. However Kenji was anything but a fool, he knew that every human being that walked this green earth feared something. Heroes of the past, great leaders, warmongers they all had something that they feared.

Kenji did fear something. He was worried for his own future, worried that this monotone cycle was going to follow him until his inevitable death. He despised the idea of working on some job that did not matter to him. He despised the idea of working in that said job until he retired without doing something useful. Kenji feared that he was going to waste his life with a meaningless job.

Kenji wanted to break this vicious cycle. A some sort of change. He wanted to achieve something for himself. Something that mattered to him, something that was interesting.

'Maybe this is the change I was looking for.'

There was no much meaning to be found in life, he thought. Kenji truly believed that life was never meant to have meaning. The search for an answer was a fault of humanity's consciousness. After all he never saw an animal or a plant questioning their own existence. Life was just there, it happened and it definitely did not require a reason. Humans were just experiencing it in a different way than most other alive beings on this Earth.

He only had a one shot at life. So he decided that he wanted to learn many things about this weird experience.

He learned that humans loved to fight one another. He learned that everyone thought they were one of the good guys. He learned that it was too easy for humans to point out the 'true evil'. He concluded that humans were great liars. And he decided that, he did not care much for it.

He was presented with a new challenge, something new for him deal with. Fallen angels, were complete mystery to him, he never believed that such creatures could exist. They easily overpowered him before. Even though they were extremely threatening, he was interested in it. He was interested in this new reality, he wanted to know the truth. Kenji wanted to know just how many things were hiding in plain sight.

His train of thought was stopped when he saw bunch of students gathered around the entrance of the school.

The crowd of students were watching something,they looked confused. He raised an eyebrow at this. He slowly walked up to the crowd, while doing so he took out his headphones and put them into his pocket. Something huge must be happening, he thought. It was enough to interest a lot of students.

"H-How is this even possible?!" A male student shouted with disbelief.

"Am...am I dreaming or something?" This was a very familiar voice for Kenji. He looked around, searching for the source of the voice. He saw Daichi, looking very, very horrified, standing in the crowd. He grinned when he saw Daichi's ridiculous facial expressions. Kenji walked towards to his horrified friend, he also wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

As he walked towards Daichi, he saw the 'reason' why students gather around. He was almost surprised. Almost.

Rias Gremory, Kuoh's number one beauty was walking towards the school. Usually people did pay a lot of attention to her, but not this much. There was reason why students gather around and looked at the situation with disbelief. Issei Hyoudou walking besides her was the reason.

"R-Rias onee-sama, why?!"

Kenji looked at Issei. He looked fine for a person who took a spear to his gut yesterday. Overnight he was healed, Rias Gremory's healing abilities was quite efficient, he noted.

'She is coming with him...to protect him, perhaps?'

He shaked his head, there was going to be a time for questions. Then he noticed his friend, still having horrified facial expressions. He let out a chuckle, of course Daichi was going to react like this, he thought.

'This is going to be an interesting conversation.'

"Yo,Daichi." Kenji,with a grin on his face, raised his hand to give a small wave to his best friend. He was ready to hear his absurd answer, but Daichi didn't say nor do anything. He was frozen in place, his eyes were locked in Issei and Rias. Daichi narrowed his eyes, probably not believing what he was seeing. After that he rubbed his eyes furiously, then took another look at the duo. They were still there.

Daichi was in deep confusion."How,what,why,when,where…Thisdoesn'tmakenaysense."

Kenji let out a sigh. He knew what to do.

"Alright, let's reset you.

Kenji hit him from the back of his head. Daichi let out a small cry, coming back to his senses, he noticed Kenji standing besides him. After recovering from his little breakdown, Daichi's eye suddenly widened and he hurriedly checked around the school entrance, he was searching for someone. Daichi let out a breath of relief when his search was done. His weird actions, he was used to him being weird all the time but this was tool weird, worried Kenji just a tad bit.

"I didn't hit you too hard, did I?"

"No...no. I was just looking for Hikari-chan..."

"She got you this whipped already, huh?"

Daichi shaked his head in protest."Of course not, she's not like - wait ! That's not the point, we have really, really huge problems, Kenji!" In mid sentence he did a one eighty turn and become dramatic." My brother, I'm sorry to inform you that…-"

"Yeah yeah, you can tell me all about it when we are in class. Let's just enter to the school for now" Kenji spoke dryly, interrupting him, as he walked passed the school gate, leaving Daichi behind.

"I can understand your confusion but...hey! Wait a damn minute!"

* * *

Rias Gremory let out small,tired sigh as she walked up the stairs. Last couple of nights did take a toll on her, after all she resurrected two person for peerage in one night. She also had to heal one yesterday, and the lack of having shower did not really help the case at all. However even though tired as she maybe, nobody could deny that this was a triumph for her. She was also quite happy to have two new members to her family in one night. possible two new strong members, now that was a fine addition, she thought with a grin on her face.

"So, what do you think of them?" Very familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.

The president of school council, next heiress of the Sitri Clan, her childhood friend and her rival. Souna Shitori. She was leaning against a pillar.

"Good morning, Rias.

"Good morning, Souna." Rias greeted her friend as she moved besides her, looking down at the entrance, she saw her new servant, her new pawn. Issei Hyoudou was having a...debate with his two friends. A small smile appeared on her face as she recalled the events of this morning. She liked his frustrated self, she thought it was quite cute. It was good that she had a decent beginning with at least one of her new servant. After all she always liked to spend quality time with her cute servants.

"Adding two new members to your family this fast, is not like you." Souna spoke as she took a look at Issei. "Hyodou Issei-san, second year, from class B. Quite... infamous."

"Hmm, really?" Rias spoke as she examined Issei." He's...ah bit passionate about somethings."

Then she noticed two students entering the school. One of them was particularly interesting to her. It was Kenji Asono, her new knight. Kenji wasn't supposed to be there when Fallen Angel attacked Issei. The possibility of him being there by chance was none. Unlike Issei, he didn't have a Sacred Gear. She was curious about the reason why he decided to follow Issei yesterday.

She narrowed her eyes, she did not know much about Kenji Asono. He keeps a low profile in school it seems, Rias thought. She knew one thing though it was going to be harder for her to control Kenji.

"Asono Kenji-san, they are in the same class." Souna and Rias looked at each other." Interesting choice...does he have a Sacred Gear as well?"

"No."

Neither of them said anything for couple of seconds. After that Souna stared directly at Rias.

"Rias I know you, there must be something special about him otherwise you wouldn't go out your way to resurrect him." Souna spoke with brutal honesty in her voice." Am I wrong?" Rias wasn't bothered by it. That was actually one of the reasons why she was her best friend.

"So cold hearted, Souna. What if I just didn't want him to die?" Rias said with a small chuckle. Then she focused on Kenji once more." Well, you are right. I do believe he has...some potential."

* * *

"I'm so _boooorrrrreeed._ " Daichi exclaimed as he put his head on his table.

"I'm bored too." Kenji spoke while stretching his arms. He took a peek out of the window."But whining about it isn't going to help, ya know Daichi."

"...school sucks." Daichi mumbled under his breath."I really want to see Hikari-chan…"

"Last time I checked her class was just next to ours."

"Yeah so funny, Kenji." Daichi raised his head frustration and turned behind to look at Kenji."She's in school choir, they are practicing so I can't see her until the end of school."

"Give her a visit, It's not like you aren't allowed to go there."

Kenji looked at the entrance of the classroom, he was waiting for Rias's lackey. He leaned back on his chair, Kenji wondered when he or she would come. After all she did not give him a specific time. He pursed his lips in annoyance, just a bit more, he thought. Soon enough, when they were face to face, he was going to learn the mystery. Kenji wasn't going to back down until he knew the truth.

"I mean... I guess could visit her but I really don't wanna disturb her..."Daichi trailed off, then he raised his eyebrow. "What's bothering you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You are furiously tapping on your desk, your eyes are narrowed. These are the symptoms of 'Kenji wants to strangle someone to death' " Daichi explained, then he spoke jokingly." And I'm hoping that someone isn't me."

"Nah, you are fine for today."

"Oh, I am just glad to hear that." They shared a chuckle." Jokes aside, something bothering you?"

"Not really. I didn't get much sleep last night, that's all."

Daichi looked at Kenji then let out a ,all knowing, sigh. He reached out to him and Daichi put his hand on Kenji's shoulder.

"My young friend, you don't have to hide it."

"Maybe you are not fine for today."

"I know the reason of your frustration and I can sympathize with it. Seeing Rias Gremory-senpai with Hyoudou turned you into a emotional wreck. That unfortunate event weakened many of our brethren" Then Daichi looked outside with great pain in his eyes."I would be in the same state as you if not for my precious Hikari-chan."

Kenji opened his mouth to say something but then decided not to,he felt that this was a better thing to do. He slowly raised his hand to massage his temples.

"Seems like someone's talking about me." A sudden voice caused Daichi to jump on his seat. He quickly turned around to see his girlfriend standing in front of them with a small grin on her face.

"H-Hikari-chan?! What are you doing here? I-I thought you were practicing…"

"We are taking a small break." Hikari said, after that she mumbled 'finally' under her breath." Since we are on a break I thought we could talk a bit."

"Ah is that so? I was just about to visit you." Daichi spoke with a worried chuckle. Kenji rolled his eyes at that.

"Kenji-san." Hikari spoke gaining the attention of Kenji." Do you mind if I borrow Daichi for a while?"

"Nope, not at all. You would be doing me a huge favor actually."

"Hey!" Daichi exclaimed. Hikari giggled at that and covered her mouth. Then she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her, causing him to suddenly stand up.

"Don't worry, I will bring him safe and sound." She spoke while walking away, pulling Daichi with her. Daichi looked back at his friend with small confusion. Kenji shrugged his shoulder and gave him a, with not much enthusiasm, thumbs up. After they were out of sight he once again leaned back on his chair. It was good thing that Daichi found someone like her, he thought. They already looked like a good couple. But then again he really didn't have any clue what a good couple looked like.

Kenji shook his head, there was more important matters for him to think about.

Things like...

"Kiba-kuun!"

"It's Kiba-kun!"

"...nice timing." Kenji mumbled under his breath as he looked at the entrance of the classroom. Female students of class B were already gathered around, admiring the new person who just entered. Male students were a different story. All of them almost grunted at the same time. Almost.

"Handsome prince is here…"

"Today is getting worse by the minute."

"Handsome guys should just die…" Last comment was made by Issei Hyoudou.

Kenji examined the new comer, he definitely felt the same as Issei. Kiba Yuuto, the handsome prince of Kuoh was tied to Rias.

'Seems like being popular in Kuoh makes you instantly connected to the Fallen Angel situation.'

"Can you please excuse me for a moment?" Kiba said to group of girls with a sweet smile. Then he walked up to Issei, Kiba raised his hand gave a little wave to him.

"Hello."

"What do you want?"

Kenji stood up and walked towards to them. Kiba looked at Kenji and greeted him, Kenji's presence surprised Issei.

"Ah hello, Asono-san. I presume you know why I am here?"

"I think so."

Issei raised an eyebrow." Wait, what is going here?"

"Rias Gremory-senpai sent me."

"Then you are…" Issei trailed off then looked at Kenji."You as well…?"

"I don't like wings anymore than you do, Hyoudou-san." Kenji said dryly, hoping that Issei gets what he meant.

Issei eyes slowly widened as realization hit him. "Same thing happened to me."

"You got hit by a sp-"

"Yeah, as you know, it's not fun." Kenji interrupted him and looked at Kiba."We can't talk here."

"Follow me, I will take you to Rias-senpai."

Issei rubbed the back of his neck, then stood up while shaking his head.

This caused all of the girls to gasp at the same time. Kenji let out a small sigh, he did know what was going to happen next. He liked the school but Kuoh had serious problem when it come to gossiping.

"A-A t-three way?!"

"This is not possible!"

"N-No way! This is the most incompatible couple! Our Kiba-kun is handsome,kind and too pure! Issei Hyoudou is nothing but a filthy pervert! And Kenji Asono is…." She stopped for moment when nothing came to her mind. "I-I don't know anything about him."

"They are talking nonsense…" Issei spoke under his breath.

Kenji shrugged his shoulder at that."I think that's the greatest compliment I ever heard, thank you very much." He replied without sarcasm.

* * *

Kiba led them to the behind of the school, when they passed the gymnasium Kenji raised an eyebrow. From this point onward there was only the old school house. It was a good place for anyone who doesn't want to bothered and doesn't want to be discovered. After all Rias Gremory was not dealing with any school activities there, Kenji thought to himself. He didn't have any guesses to what she and her servants were doing in that place, probably witchery, but it did made him curious. Kiba told them that this place was being used by the Occult Research Club, a club with the purpose of searching for supernatural activity. Kiba also told them that he and Rias was part of it, with her being the president of the club. Kenji wasn't even remotely surprised, if anything he thought this was the most suited job for her.

Kenji took a look at the old school house. It was a three story building, it looked like it's third story served as a cloak tower. The building was white with a black rooftop. Trio entered to the old school house. Kenji felt a certain energy from the house, it was as he expected it. He examined around, it was not too shabby for an old school house. He was sure that some work was done on it. Kenji noticed that there was no lamp or switch in the building. There was no light source. Interior of the building was only lightened up by the Sun.

"Too gloomy, don't you think?" Kenji asked to Issei.

"Yeah, this place has a weird atmosphere." Issei replied, as he looked around."It's uh...bit creepy actually."

"Oh it's sad that you think like that Hyoudou-kun, I think this place is quite cozy." This time Kiba spoke, while walking up the stairs." Don't worry, in time you definitely will get used to it." He finished it with a smile.

The way that he said the last sentence bothered Kenji just a tad bit.

"Uh...Asono-san." Issei spoke as he got closer to Kenji, while looking at Kiba, then whispered to him."He spoke like a serial killer just now, didn't he?"

"Indeed...that was little unsettling." Kenji replied with a whisper.

"Should we run for it?"

"I can hear you guys, you know." Kiba said with a chuckle.

"Just be on guard, if he tries anything we can take him out."

"Two against one, we have the advantage. Alright, good plan."

Kenji and Issei firmly shaked hands.

"I...still can hear you two."

After walking up to the stairs they entered to a strange room. First thing he noticed was the source of light. The room was was lighten up by several candles, which surprised Kenji. There were paintings on the wall, there was two sofas facing each other and in the middle of them was small table with candle on it. There was someone sitting on one of the sofas. Koneko Toujo, he was not surprised to see this person. Kenji remembered ,from the last night, her deflecting the spear. She was eating what it seemed like sweets.

"T-That girl…" Issei spoke, surprised to see her here.

"She is a first year, her name is Koneko Toujou." Kiba introduced her. Now that Kenji take a good look at her, he noticed that she was very petite, compare to her Kenji was a tower. Kenji was taller than many in Kuoh but he wasn't that tall. She noticed them after a while and turned her head towards to trio.

"This is Hyoudou Issei-kun." Suddenly being in the center of attention caused Issei to be surprised, a small blush creeped on his face while she examined him.

"It's really nice to meet you!"

"And this is Asono Kenji-kun." Her gaze now was fixed on Kenji. She raised an eyebrow while looking at him. Koneko probably found him familiar, Kenji thought.

"Hey." Kenji spoke, he raised his hand to give her a little wave."We've met before, back in the park."

Koneko looked at him for couple seconds more,

Before completely ignoring them and continue eating her sweet.

"Isn't she talkative." Kenji spoke under his breath while trying to ignore the hypocrisy in his own words. Then he noticed Issei having...strange facial expressions. Seems like he started daydreaming about a certain white haired girl, He mentally facepalmed. Another Daichi, Kenji thought.

While facepalming mentally his ears picked up sounded. Someone was having shower. He looked at the source of the sound and saw curtain covering the area. The curtain was not doing much of good job, Kenji thought. Figure of the person showering was clearly visible from through the curtains. That said person had long crimson hair.

'Huh, she reaaaallly cares for her privacy.' Kenji dryly thought.

"A bath? In a club room?!" Kenji heard the excitement in his voice raise up with each word. He resisted the urge to give him a slap in the back of the head. That always fixed Daichi. They were really similar, Issei and Daichi. If they met they would become the best of friends, Kenji thought.

"This is art! Those fascinating curves…they are nothing but a masterpiece!"

"You are thinking loudly, you know that right?"

"Ah…" Issei shamefully scratched his cheek."...I am?

Kenji rolled his eyes at Issei's excited behavior. He expected him to act like this, especially around Rias, and Rias was not helping to the situation either, Issei was part of the perverted trio after all. But he really couldn't blame Issei. Even though Kenji was irritated by her actions, he couldn't deny the fact that she was a lovely woman. Only thing matched her beauty was her intellect. He would have to be in complete denial not to admit that Rias' body was captivating to the sight...

Kenji furiously shaked his head, he was thinking too much about an unnecessary subject again. All of a sudden the paintings on the wall became quite interesting to him. He silently cursed his overthinking.

"Buchou, here is your clothes." Another voice was heard from the far reaches of the room, it was a young woman's voice. He thought that he heard this voice before but he couldn't recognize it.

"Thank you, Akeno." However he definitely recognized the name. Akeno Himejima, a person that he definitely could not forget. She was able to control lighting or was it...lightning magic? It did not much in the end, they were the same things...all things considered. Whatever it was, one does not easily forget someone like her, Kenji thought.

"Hyoudou-san." Kenji looked at Issei." I suggest you to not get distracted, we are here for a reason."

His advice fell on deaf ears.

"I'm sorry, Asono-san. But one must appreciate a beautiful work of art." Issei said to him with a serious voice and narrowed eyes. He took a deep breath, "Just as I thought! It's Rias-senpai !" and exclaimed loudly, getting fired up once again." What an awesome club room!"

Kenji let out a sigh, he decided that he was going to introduce Issei to Daichi. He knew that could only end in a catastrophic event but, he asked to himself, would that really change anything?

"Pervert." Isse heard the low voice, almost a whisper, of Koneko, she spoke while eating her sweets. Kenji took a breath of relief, that small comment was quite affective.

"Ara…"

The young female voice was heard once again. Akeno Himejima was standing in front of them, when she noticed them a kind smile appeared on her face. She let out a giggle, it slightly bothered him, and walked up to them.

"You two are our new club members, right?" Akeno spoke, giving them a bow mid sentence." I'm pleased to meet you."

Sudden formal introduction and bow surprised both of them, it caused a small blush to appear on Issei's face.

"I'm vice-president of the occult research club, Himejima Akeno." Akeno spoke with a smile."Please make yourself at home."

Issei was baffled for moment, his face getting redder with each second. He scratched his head with embarrassment.

"A-Ah...I'm Hyoudou Issei. I-It's very nice meeting you."

Kenji looked at Akeno, he was about introduce himself when she spoke first.

"We've meet again, Asono-kun. Fortunately it's far pleasant than last time."

"It's nice meeting you again, Himejima-senpai." Kenji spoke formally towards her,then he raised his eyebrow in confusion." I don't remember introducing myself to you."

"Buchou told me bit about both of... _you_." The way she said 'you' made Kenji really uncomfortable, directly staring at him in the eye didn't help the case either. What was there to know about him really? Before all of this he was just a simple student with a normal boring life. He really didn't achieved anything special, didn't have any abilities that sticked out from the rest. 'How much did Rias know about him?' was another question. The information that she had on him was useless at best, he concluded. She probably knew where he was living, who were his parents. Maybe she was going threaten to kill his parents if he doesn't cooperate. Doesn't look the type, the thought come to his mind as he narrowed his eyes. The fact that he had less than limited information on her didn't help the case. As the thoughts rushed in to his mind, he silently gritted his teeth. There it was again, his fear of the unknown. It was the only factor that was getting in to his way. How to control it? When did someone was able to control their emotions. This fear definitely wasn't caused by the idea that his parents might get hurt. It was caused by the advantage Rias had on him. While thoughts weight down on his head, he was able to stay calm. Or look calm to the observer.

This fear slowly turned into anger and frustration. He was already losing the game against Rias. She was slowly pushing him to where she wanted him to be.

He wasn't going to give up that easily. They had the power to eradicate him in mere seconds. Physical warfare might not be his thing but psychological warfare was an area he could fight on.

"Did she now? How very nice -"

"This is an awesome club!"

"...of her."

Kenji resisted the urge to let out an annoyed sigh, he was getting tired of doing that.

"Ara,ara." Akeno let out a giggle."You seem to be very excited, Hyoudou-kun."

"I'm sorry for the wait." Curtains were pushed to reveal Rias Gremory, she was drying her hair with a white towel.

A Sweet scent reached to his Kenji's nose, he recognized it from somewhere. "Since I've spent the last night with you, I didn't have any time to shower." Rias said to Issei.

"A-ah, it's fine. You don't have to apologize,senpai." After saying that Issei looked at Kenji with a wide grin, expecting him to lose his mind with jealousy. Issei remembered the reaction of his two friend, their faces were ridiculous to look at. One doesn't get to brag about sharing a bed with the most beautiful girl of Kuoh everyday, even though he gracefully ignored the reason for sharing the bed, he was proud of himself.

He was the one who lost his mind when he received no reaction from Kenji.

"All right, seeing as both of you are here.." She tossed away the towel to a nearest table and she walked up to her president's table and sat on the edge of it, crossing her legs Rias looked at them with small smile."Welcome to the Occult Research Club. Please, take a seat."

"As you probably figured out," Rias Gremory began after everyone took their seat."The Occult Research Club is an unimportant name. It's a small hobby at best….ah and Akeno." She called out to the Vice-president."Could you make some tea for our guests?"

"Of course, Buchou." Akeno gave an approving nod before leaving.

"Umm…" Issei spoke with clear confusion on his face."What exactly do you mean by that,Rias-senpai?"

"It's a cover-up, after all dealing with winged creatures isn't a common occurrence in daily life." Kenji responded Issei's question with a dry answer, then he spoke under his breath."Might become a common occurrence for us though."

"You have a good sense of humor Asono-san." Rias let out a small laugh, annoying Kenji in the process and causing him to grumble about being serious."What he said was the truth, we are not just the Occult Research club. All of us are…" Wide grin appeared on her face. "Devils."

Devils...that word kept repeating in Kenji's mind. He wasn't that surprised to find out that she and the others being a supernatural thing, a realization surprised him the most. Whole business with the fallen angel was imitating something he knew very well. Fallen Angels, Devils existing only it guaranteed that Angels existed as well. All of those things,creatures, they were connected to religion. Abrahamic religions to be specific, Kenji silently concluded. It was an interesting development for him, he eagerly waited for her to speak more.

"T-that's..."

"Shocking, I know." Rias spoke while looking at Issei."The winged man you saw last night, he was a Fallen Angel. Once upon a time they used to serve God as Angels, after committing sins like lust and gluttony, they were kicked out from Heaven." When she saw the surprise on Issei's faces she continued." They are trying to destroy us,devils by using humans. From the primitive ages they are fighting for the control of the underground, Hell, I think, is a more familiar term for both of you. There are also normal Angels that are hunting Devils because of God's command...It's basically a never ending three-way fight.

Kenji narrowed his eyes, he finally get the information he was seeking but he felt...a bit empty. Was he expecting so much more from this? Maybe. After all it was a classic religion story. Not much satisfying.

"Did you get all that?"She looked at both of them.

"More or less..." Kenji spoke while scratching his chin, then looked up to meet her eyes."That still doesn't explain the reason why Fallen Angels attacked us, humans in the first place."

"Don't worry, Asono-san. I will be coming to that soon enough. Now Hyoudou-san, do you have any questions?"

"Umm, how should I put this….this whole thing is bit complicated for an ordinary student like me."

"Amano Yuuma." Rias closed her eyes, the name caused Issei to gasp and shiver. When she opened her eyes she had a devious grin on her face."I'm sure you remember her, you even went on date with her."

Kenji silently observed Issei. He saw Issei's hands were shaking in anger and schock. Kenji knew what she was doing. It was always easy to control an angered person.

"I don't know how you learned that name,there is nothing mysterious about it...I really don't like talking about this."

Issei suddenly stood up."I'm sorry but-"

"Oh really?" Rias spoke, Kenji was able to catch the mocking tone on her voice. Then she picked something from her desk and tossed onto table that was in front of Issei. It was photograph of Issei and a girl with dark hair. The famous Yuuma-chan, Kenji presumed.

"Y-Yuuma-chan?" Issei let out a gasp, his stare fixated on the picture in front of him.

"You two, cute highschool couple, went on a date." Rias let out a small laugh, and walked towards Issei."It was the happiest time of your life and who could blame you? Love is great, wouldn't you agree?" She put her hand under his chin, raising his head to meet her gaze."But she used your innocence to get close to you. She used your love to kill you. Because you were a threat to them." Letting go his chin,she picked up the photograph and crumbled it inside her hand."This girl-No this thing is a Fallen Angel, Issei. The man who attacked you last night was one as well."

Kenji almost clapped when she finished. Knowing where to strike was important when manipulating someone. He closely examined Rias's facial expressions and her body movements, he let out a small sigh afterwards. She was successful at what she was doing. A technique many great leaders used and continue to use to this age.

'Anger is a feeble thing at best. One who embraces it always burns out fast.' Kenji thought as he looked at Issei.

"But Matsuda and Motohama...they don't even remember her!" Issei exclaimed out loud."Her phone number was gone as well!"

"She used her power." Rias easily answered it."However…"Her gaze turned to Kenji."Asono-kun you definitely didn't forget about her, did you?"

"It's not easy to forget something like that." He nodded." My friend, Daichi, told me about her. Strange enough, he didn't remember talking about her the next day. Since this happened just after being attacked by that Fallen Angel, it was too suspicious to just ignore."

"And is this the reason that you decide to follow him yesterday?."

"Indeed. I thought that Fallen Angels would eventually find out that I was still alive, so I decided to…" Kenji stopped for a second. He himself wasn't exactly sure what he was trying to do last couple of days."Gather information, I guess."

"Searching for information, huh?" Rias Gremory raised an eyebrow with a smug smile on her face."An admirable effort." Kenji really didn't like the tone of her voice, he was getting more irritated as he watched her face.

'As if you didn't know that.'

"Thanks." Kenji replied dryly, almost bit aggressively, while maintaining the eye contact."But remembering the good old days in a very vivid detail will get us nowhere. Let's focus on the future shall we? There is a reason why Fallen Angels are after us. And Gremory-senpai, something tells me that you know the exact reason." He finished his sentence as he crossed his arms and leaned back on the couch.

"And here I thought everybody was enjoying this friendly conversation." Rias said with a small, almost disappointed sigh as she walked back to her table.

"Sorry, I'm not much of people's person."

"Yeah, I can definitely see that." She spoke as she sat on the edge of the table once again."Asono-kun, you really should loosen up a bit." Rias smiled sweetly as Akeno entered the room with a small tray containing six cups of tea."Tea should help with that."

Irritated he raised his hand to massage his temples in order to subdue the headache that was slowly forming.

'This is going to be a long day.'

* * *

"Teleportation magic...huh. Could come in handy someday." Kenji spoke as he scratched his chin. As soon as the dizziness ,caused by the teleportation, passed he quickly observed his surroundings. He was in someone's home, that was easy to figure, a very rich person's home. Leather couches,vases,figurines that probably cost quite a lot and even that was putting it mildly, Kenji dryly thought. As he continued his investigation, he slowly concluded that he might regret choosing to do this.

"Accepting it straight away...What a great decision I've made." He spoke as he let out small sigh. He already lost the count of how many times he sighed this day alone, even though he 'really' tried hard to keep track of it.

Straight away wasn't the most correct term to use, of course he asked questions first. While he was trying to use his common sense, his curiosity got the better of him. Not much of a surprise really, Kenji thought to himself.

His job was to basically grant wishes. Not exactly but close enough. He was going to 'help' his client with something. Something varied from talking to them to cosplay for them, which gave him the need to be...on guard. Always.

Doing these kinds of jobs made devils grow more powerful. And eventually with enough effort one might become like Rias and have a peerage for themselves. Not to his surprise that made Isse very happy. Wonder why, Kenji thought as he shaked his head. While growing powerful sounded quite great to him, after all it was his intention from the beginning. But...he really didn't think that it was going to be in an absurd way. Kenji was a patient person. He could play along with people, telling some lies here and there, if he was forced to.

So the problem was quite simple to understand. He wanted to be powerful, to be powerful you had to grant people their wishes.

To be more simple. He really, really didn't want to deal with people's bullshit.

He let out a small grunt. Crying over a spilled milk wasn't going to help either. He already accepted the contract, might as well finish it.

As he came back to his current mission,he noticed that something was missing. The person who called him here.

He take another quick look around, there was no one to be found.

"Hello?" Kenji spoke loudly, trying to get the attention of the person that called him here."I am from the Gremory family, here to fulfill the contract."

A frown started to appear on his face as he didn't heard any response back. He silently cursed to Rias. She was really persistent on not giving any useful information about the job. She didn't give him any name nor information on what was he supposed to do. Just a cheeky smile and a 'You'll manage.' look.

He wasn't really happy with that.

After a few moments his frustration with the redheaded woman passed, he let out another tired sighed. Well at least he experienced the teleportation magic. With that he learned how Rias knew where to find him when he was dying. He noticed it before, the symbol that opened the teleportation portal. It was just before his first encounter with a fallen angel. A woman gave him a flyer with strange symbols on it. And on his second encounter with a fallen angel, when Rias appeared from nothing but thin air, the same symbol was under her.

There was one more question on his mind. How to return back home when his job was finished. Rias told him that when the job is over, result doesn't mattered, she will open a portal for him to return back to the club.

"Very kind of her."

"Ah...look who is finally arrived."

Kenji quickly focused on the location of the sound. The sound belonged to a woman, 25 or 30 years of age, firm yet soft tone at the same time. He heard this kind of an unique tone before, couple of times even. From several different people he had encountered before. Demanding but comforting, able to control one's thoughts. Calming them then seducing them with their words to get the information they need was quite the persuasion technique.

While it was still too early to conclude that she was doing such thing, Kenji still felt the urge to be on guard.

When he finished analyzing her voice, his eyes focused on her physical appearance. First thing catched his eyes were the way she dressed. A black loose dress, it looked like it may fall of her any second, that showed a lot of her pale skin. Even this was too much of a surprise, he was able to collect himself easily. His eyes slowly climbed up to her face. Deep blue eyes and straight black,definitely dyed, slightly wavy hair that barely reached her shoulders. She wasn't Japanese, because of her facials features he guessed that she might be Russian. His contract was a tall woman, probably the same height as he was. As he continued to study her face, his eyes were greeted by the dark red lipstick on her lips.

"I can say the same." He slowly muttered out as he felt he was forced to made eye contact with her. Two deep blue orbs were drilling into his skull, while the urge to break the eye contact was slowly crawling on to his mind he continued to speak confidently."Here to fulfill the contract. But I presume you already know that."

Kenji narrowed his eyes as his instincts kicked in when very slowly the woman in front of him started walking towards him. A dangerous smile danced on her red lips, it got wider with every step she took. He slightly clenched his teeth, he really didn't like the smile on her face. This one was different than Rias's, while Rias's smile was mocking, this one had a smile that was entirely different. Joy, lust, superiority. A mix of emotions.

Now she was just standing in front him, closer than arm's length. Too close. He was just couple of centimeters taller than her. She was around 178 cm, according to his estimates.

"Tell me your name, my devilish darling."

'This is going to be a long night. I should have just... went home.'

"I don't think it's necessary." He replied with a stoic voice." What are the requirements of fulfilling the contract."

Kenji finished bluntly. It maybe a mistake being this straightforward but he needed to see her reactions. That way he could somewhat figure out what kind of a person he was dealing with.

"Ahha. Rias knows how to pick 'em. Never doubted her taste, and she definitely is not proving me wrong." The woman said as she eyed him down with her blue orbs."Now, will you please tell me your name? Or do you want me to beg for it?."

"It's Tanaka. You?"

"Tanaka huh." The woman in front of him let out a small laugh."Well, at least you tried Kenji."

"..."

"C'mon now. You think you can fool a woman who can read minds."

"Looks like Rias told you bit about me."

"Where did you get that idea?"

Kenji let out a troubled sigh.

'I am never doing this again.'

* * *

 **I'm back, kinda. I wasn't able to write too much because of school. But here is the latest chapter, enjoy.**


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